How to Report Bugs

Many bugs reported to our bug trackers are actually bugs in user code, not in jQuery code. Keep in mind that just because your code throws an error and the console points to a line number inside of a jQuery project, this does not mean the bug is a jQuery bug; more often than not, these errors result from providing incorrect arguments when calling a jQuery function.

If you are new to jQuery, it is usually a much better idea to ask for help first in the Using jQuery Forum or the jQuery IRC channel. You will get much quicker support, and you will help avoid tying up the jQuery team with invalid bug reports. These same resources can also be useful if you want to confirm that your bug is indeed a bug in jQuery before filing any tickets.

Make sure you have reproduced the bug with all browser extensions disabled, as these can sometimes cause things to break in interesting and unpredictable ways.

In Firefox, restart in safe mode. In Internet Explorer, follow these instructions. In Chrome, enter chrome://extensions in your address bar and disable all extensions. In Safari, go to Safari -> Preferences -> Extensions and move the slider to "Off".

Bugs in old versions of jQuery projects may have already been fixed. In order to avoid this situation, make sure you are always using the latest release version. If it has been a while since the last release, you might also try a WIP build.

Sometimes, bugs are introduced in newer versions of jQuery projects that do not exist in previous versions. When possible, it can be useful to try testing with earlier versions in order to isolate the faulty code. Knowing specifically when a behaviour does not happen can be just as useful as knowing when it does.

When you are experiencing a problem, the most useful thing you can possibly do is to reduce your code to the bare minimum required to reproduce the issue. This makes it much easier to isolate and fix the offending code. Bugs that are reported without reduced test cases take on average much longer to fix than bugs that are submitted with them, so you really should try to do this if at all possible.

Chances are high that whatever bug you are experiencing has already been reported at least once, so try doing a couple of searches before creating a new bug report.

If the bug has already been reported, check to see if you can provide any new information that the original submitter did not, such as a reduced testcase, link to a demo, a patch, or details about other circumstances under which the bug occurs.